shmenguin wrote:he's had a serious lack of talent to work with for a while now, and his team came back down to earth this year. i wonder...if they didn't overachieve last year, and expectations would have been more realistic for this season, would he still have his job?

This past year, for sure. In past seasons he had some talent to work with. A bigger problem is the fact that the players they overpay for are never the big game type of players. Guys like Gaborik and Nash have talent but will never be good postseason players, and no matter how hard Torts tried to make them play tougher, it just wasn't their style and it did not play to their strengths. You can't squeeze blood from a rock.

His style would certainly fit well, and players seem to respect him. He's had an excellent coaching record. It's a move that would absolutely make sense. In other words, no way the Rangers will hire him.

Tico Rick wrote:Fiery coaches like Torts have a short shelf life. I hope the Bylsma haters take note.

I'm a huge Bylsma critic, but not a hater. I just think "player's coaches" can hurt the development of younger players and create too laid back of an atmosphere. Hockey is intense, and it requires a certain type of intensity. Torts has a great coaching record and has won a Cup. He just went off the deep end the past year or two. He was always a guy who coached on the edge, but he's gone over the edge recently and some of his comments make me wonder if some time in the looney bin wouldn't do him some good.

"He was able to accomplish quite a lot in the League, he is quite acclaimed. He won the Stanley Cup with Tampa, made the play-offs with the Rangers every year, so he will definitely get a job somewhere else. In 20 years I have played in the NHL, I have never experienced anything like this. But I don't mind coaches like him; it was definitely a tough school. As I have come to know him during those 3 months, he is definitely non-compromising. I have known many coaches, but I have never seen so much of a respect toward any coach... Tortorella did everything to make the team win. He believed that [the players he would substitute for Richards would play better than him.] He takes everything maybe too seriously. He gives everything to hockey, and he does not give a damn whether it was a fourth-liner or the top line guy, whether one makes ten millions or 100 thousands. He did not take crap from anybody, and was rather negativistic. The guys might have struggled during the games because of that."

The first text Sean Avery received informing him John Tortorella had been fired as Rangers’ coach came early Wednesday afternoon while he was in the back seat of a taxi, between business meetings in Manhattan.

“Oh, I had a huge smile on my face, no question about it,” Avery told The Post yesterday. “It’s not that I’m happy for myself. I’m happy for the Rangers and Ranger fans.